WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released the body-cam video of the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Danquirs Franklin. The video was released first to WBTV’s Chief Investigative Reporter Nick Ochsner, who petitioned a judge for its release.

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has released video of the moments leading up to and after the fatal police shooting of Danquirs Franklin.

The 27-year-old was shot by veteran CMPD officer Wende Kerl, who has been a part of the department since 1995, around 9 a.m. on March 25 in the parking lot of the Burger King on Beatties Ford Road.

The body-cam video, released by police on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m., is two minutes and twenty seconds long. The first 30 seconds of the video does not have audio, which is standard for body-camera video released by CMPD. This edited video shows the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Franklin on March 25, 2019.

In the body-cam video, officers Kerl and Larry Diehl drew their guns immediately upon getting out of their vehicles. Between the two officers, Franklin was instructed to either “drop the weapon” or “put the gun on the ground” at least 20 times.

A minute and ten seconds passes from the time Kerl exits her vehicle to the shooting.

WBTV SPECIAL REPORT: Body-cam video of the fatal officer-involved shooting at a Charlotte Burger King has been released.

Hours before the release of the video, city leaders united outside the Government Center in uptown Charlotte to call for a calm and measured community reaction. Mayor Vi Lyles and council members said they had not seen the video before holding the press conference.

Police also released two 911 calls, shortly after the incident, made from witnesses at the Burger King describing an armed man in the restaurant.

In the first call, a woman describes an African-American man inside the restaurant headed towards the counter to “fight an employee.” Halfway through the call, the woman starts repeating the same phrase - “he got a gun.”

Police say they engaged the man described in the 911 calls in the parking lot and “repeatedly ordered him to drop his gun” when they arrived on scene.

“I have never experienced anything like this in my life,” a woman told a 911 operator in the second emergency call released to WBTV.

911 call: "I have never experienced anything like this in my life"

The woman told police the man reached into his pants, possibly going for a weapon, as he approached her car. The caller told the dispatcher she drove away from the restaurant and believed the man went back inside the store.

The woman told the 911 dispatcher she saw people around the Burger King drive off at that point and employees of the store running.

Author

Managing Editor + Digital Content Manager

Charlotte, NC

Mark joined WBTV in December 2013. Before becoming Managing Editor and Digital Content Manager, he excelled at covering breaking news for WBTV This Morning and filling in as an Anchor in the Alert Center, on WBTV News at Noon, and Morning Break.